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| Wednesday,
April 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Jacob lays Kajauli’s Ph IV foundation Chandigarh, April 8 After the completion of the work on Phase IV of the Kajauli augmentation water supply scheme; Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and Chandi Mandir Cantonment areas will receive 20 MGD additional water supply from the main line of Bhakra. Out of 20 MGD, Chandigarh would get 14.5 MGD, Mohali 2.5 MGD Panchkula 1.5 MGD and Chandi Mandir 1.5 MGD. It may be mentioned that Phase I and II of Kajauli augmentation water supply scheme of 20 million gallons per day capacity each were commissioned in the year 1983 and 1988, respectively. Phase III was completed in the year 1995. At present 60 million gallons of water is being pumped daily from Kajauli water works to Chandigarh, out of which 7.5 million gallons of water is supplied to Mohali and another 4.5 million gallons to the cantonment area of Chandi Mandir. Panchkula has yet to lay its pipeline to receive its share of 4.5 million gallons of water. Speaking on the occasion, General Jacob stressed the need for conserving water. He said, “this precious resource is depleting fast and we have to avoid wastage of water”. He stressed upon the need to discipline the usage of water in Chandigarh, as it was having the highest per capita consumption in the country. Praising the work of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the Administrator said the MC was also stepping up vigilance drive to check the theft of water and line losses. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, Minister for Animal Husbandry of Punjab, who is also local MLA asked the officials of the Public Health Department to take care of the problems of farmers while laying pipeline to Chandigarh. He revealed that Rs 31 crore had been provided by the Government of Punjab, while the rest by Chandigarh Administration to complete the construction work on Phase IV of the Kajauli water works. He said the construction work had been entrusted to a firm of Secunderabad, which has started laying pre-stressed concrete pipes. Mr Jasjeet Singh Randhawa, Minister of State for Public Health, Government of Punjab promised to complete this precious project for the capital of Punjab within the scheduled time. He said that Punjab was concerned about the depleting water resources in Chandigarh and adjoining areas. He said that the Kajauli water works was the lifeline for the residents of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. Prominent amongst those who were present on the occasion included Mr Subash Chawla, Mayor and Mr M.P. Singh, Commissioner of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Mrs Gurbinder Kaur Chahal, Principal Secretary Public Health Department and Deputy Commissioner and SSP of Ropar district. |
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Royal Bengal tiger cub born Chhat Bir (Patiala), April 8 The zookeeper revealed that the tigress took time in accepting the cub. The first cub died hours after the birth, while the other was stillborn. The mother accepted and fed the third cub after around six hours of birth, he added. Sources in the zoo said more cubs were expected in a week or so as two more tigresses were pregnant. With more arrivals, the issue of space for the tigers will again come to the fore. To curtail the overpopulation of lions and tigers, the zoo authorities have already started may schemes like presenting of lions to other zoos and exchanging of tigers with other animals. In a bid to curtail the growing lion population, the zoo authorities had gone in for en masse vasectomy of the big cats last year. Two lion cubs and two bears were also given to Vadodara Zoo last year, while three lions were given to Lucknow Zoo last month. As a token of gratitude, the Government of India had also gift ed a pair of Royal Bengal tigers to the President of Libya for the relief material sent by his country for the victims of Gujarat earthquake in 2001. When contacted, the Zoo Director, Mr Kuldeep Kumar, said they had tied-up with zoos in Lucknow, Chennai, Patna and Guwahati to get animals and birds that Chhat Bir was lacking. He claimed: “We will try to get animals from other zoos of the country.” |
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Young minds’ memorable visit Chandigarh, April 8 The “Missile Man”, as the scientist-turned-President is often referred to, evidently left a deep impression on the young minds and proved to be the motivating factor behind the wings of fire, on which the stalwarts of tomorrow now seem to be soaring. “Talking with the President has given me an urge to work for the betterment of the country,” said Vineet Sharma, a class-XII student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35. “He shared his vision about India in the year, 2020, and I am convinced that if 100 crore people can come together, it can be realised,” he added. “Dr Kalam emphasised that everyone should have a dream. Dreams lead to thoughts, thoughts lead to actions and actions lead to widening of horizons and increase in knowledge,” said Shirin Salwan from Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 16. “We realised that what he said is important because it is necessary to have a desire and a aim in life and plan out things accordingly,” she remarked. Other students from the city who met the President were Sanchi Sharma from GSSS, Sector 26, Anju Garg, GSSS, Karsan and Rajni from GSSS, Sector 38-West. The Principal, GSSS, Karsan, Mr D.P. Singh, and Ms Alka Mehta, a physics lecturer at GMSSS 16, had accompanied them Students representing all states and union territories had been invited for an interaction with the President. It is not often that one gets to see the president in person. But spending a few hours with the head of the country, having lunch with him and asking him questions is once-in-a-lifetime kind of an experience. “On our way to Delhi we had perceived that the meeting would be a formal kind of an affair, but it turned out to quite different. It was like talking to a friend rather than a President,” said Sanchi Sharma. The President sat with us at the table for a while and asked us about our studies, teachers and aims in life,” added Anju.”The President appreciated our career options and concerns about our future, and stressed that dedication and hard work overcomes all odds,” Rajni said. While urging his young guests never to stop their quest for knowledge, Dr Kalam also shared his experiences as a student with them. He recalled an instance where no student in his class could understand what the teacher was trying to explain. The teacher then took them to the beach for a practical demonstration, where the theories suddenly became crystal clear. “It is by doing things yourself that you learn,” the President had stated. On the question about unemployment in the country, Dr Kalam gave out some statistics and told the youngsters that though the economic scenario is improving, if they work hard and excel in their chosen field, no hurdle would come in their way. |
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IAF gives Rs 8,000 relief
to each injured Chandigarh, April 8 A preliminary inquiry points to engine failure behind yesterday’s plane crash. However, the exact cause of the crash will only be ascertained after the inquiry is completed. This version of MiG -21 BIS was recently upgraded by Russia. According to sources, the court of inquiry is likely to be completed within the next 2-3 days. The black box, which was recovered from an industrial unit manufacturing mixie machines, was also handed over to the court of inquiry team for further investigations. Various teams of high officials from New Delhi and Ambala air bases have been inspecting the site of the mishap and the wreckage since yesterday for investigations. However, the Air Force authorities continued to remain tight-lipped about the incident and all efforts to get in touch with senior officials proved futile. The pilot, Flt-Lt N. Garg, who is admitted to Military Hospital, Ambala Cantt, is also recuperating from the shock. When the correspondent visited him in the hospital, he refused to divulge any details on the crash saying only senior officials are competent to comment on that. He looked relaxed and in good health. The wreckage of the plane, which lay scattered 500 metres within the premises of the residential colony was later in the afternoon removed in a big trolley. Curious onlookers watched the entire process standing near the wall of the colony as the police and Air Force personnel prevented them from entering the premises. But employees of the plant and few others who could get in kept on
visiting the site of the mishap all through the day and were thankful of the providential escape of their
colleagues and their families. Four of the seriously injured patients admitted to various hospitals in the city and Chandigarh are reported to be in stable condition. Residents of this small residential colony are yet to come to terms with what happened here yesterday. While Swaranjit Kaur, a passer-by, who sustained head injury when a splinter of the plane hit her head cutting across her left ear, is being treated at the PGI, Roshni Devi, who suffered 60 per cent burn injuries is undergoing treatment at GMCH-32 and continues to be in a precarious condition. Shankari Devi and Anil Kumar are admitted to Civil hospital here. Mr Ashok Gupta, who suffered burn injuries on both his hands, said the incident had left them totally shaken. His relatives, who have come from far and near to enquire about his well-being were asking him to leave this house as the colony happens to be in close proximity to the air-base and such a mishap can always happen again. Mr Gupta said the district administration should seriously look into this issue after this incident. They are busy with various written formalities, but the ‘real’ help in the form of compensation is yet to come and should at least be made available to the seriously injured at the earliest. Women in the area just can’t help thanking God Almighty for his kindness on their families for the tragedy would have been very major had the aircraft not hit into a couple of trees before finally nose-diving into an open space. The electricity and telephone services, which got snapped after the incident, were restored by last evening. Saroj, who stays in H No: 9, the house adjacent to Gobind Singh’s quarter which was burnt yesterday, said “perhaps Goddess Bhagwati is being kind to us during the ongoing Navratras and our lives were saved.” Though life in the colony is soon limping back to normalcy, people are apprehensive of staying in those houses as such a crash can take place any time and “this time they may not be all that lucky”. Gagandeep, son of Milk Plant Manager, Jaspal Singh, said “whenever a plane crosses this area, we run out looking towards the sky.” Another woman pointed out that children of the colony usually play in this open space, where the plane crashed. Besides, the three odd trees which bore the major brunt of the crash, few others have got burnt and damaged by the flames and the dense black smoke that followed. |
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TRIBUNE
IMPACT Chandigarh, April 8 Highly-placed sources in the Excise and Taxation Department, also holding the additional charge of Entertainment Duty, informed The Tribune that the organisers in question were being assessed for entertainment tax daily on the basis of tickets sold by the evening. Sources add that whereas Global Exhibitors, organisers of the fair, already deposited Rs 20,000 as entertainment duty yesterday, they again deposited about Rs 6,000 today. The Entertainment Duty Officer is keeping a check on the number of tickets sold daily and is also assessing the amount of tax thereon. It has been learnt that the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, UT, has directed the officers concerned to keep a check on the sale of tickets in the fair. Meanwhile, Mahesh
Pandit, one of the organisers, today claimed that they had sold 3,000 and not 30,000 tickets, as mentioned in these columns earlier. |
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Organised
crime poses challenge for police
Chandigarh, April 8 Information about the gang, arrested by the Chandigarh police, was, in fact, exchanged by police officials of Chandigarh, Ropar, Patiala, Shimla, Solan, Ambala and western Uttar Pradesh at different inter-state crime meetings held in the recent past. An official from Sharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), who had participated in one such meeting, disclosed that the members of gang lived in Azad Nagar and hailed from the Bathu community. Around 350 youths in the colony, specialising in different crimes, had become a headache for the police of different states. Even the Uttar Pradesh police was finding it difficult to nail the criminals as they had committed crimes in other states. In light of the inter-state coordination, the Chandigarh police was seeking the help of the Uttar Pradesh police to arrest other members of the gang. The police believes that seven other members of the gang had managed to escape to their native place. Senior officials of the city police were in contact with officials of the neighbouring states to exchange information of theft cases reported in their respective areas. Sources in the police said the arrest of the gang had indicated towards the trend of organised gang of dreaded criminals who were continuously regrouping themselves. It has been pointed by certain police officials, dealing with specialised crimes, that the gangs specialising in highway waylaying, robbing of banks, dacoities and white collar crimes were repeatedly striking in the region after lying low for a short period. A coordination secretariat has already been set up in Chandigarh to share information about specialised crimes and criminals in the region. Some facts about organised crime in the region *A gang, suspected to be holed in Hoshiarpur (Punjab), had repeatedly struck at banks in the rural areas of Una, Nangal and Pinjore. Members of the gang, who used a red Maruti car, were wary of striking at banks in the urban areas. At least three members of the gang conduct a recce of their target and opt for banks which deal in small transactions. *Another gang specialised in looting persons who were going to deposit or withdrew money from banks in the urban areas. *Two gangs specialise in waylaying their targets on highways in the region. The modus operandi of one of the gangs was stop a truck with the help of a four-wheeler and remove the tyres before abandoning the truck. Such incident were reported from Panchkula. Another gang, which had struck in Jalandhar, Amritsar and other places in Punjab, waylays a loaded truck and kill its occupants. * Another gang specialising in white collar crimes was busted by the Panchkula police. Their modus operandi of the gang was to show financed vehicles as stolen, take the insurance claim and sell off the vehicle in other states on a fake sale letter. At least 16 vehicles have been seized by the Panchkula police. Similar case have also come to light in Chandigarh. *Another gang throws chilly powder in the eyes of its target and snatches the belongings. The gang members had snatched around five kg of gold ornaments from some persons in Ambala. Such incidents had been reported from Jalandhar and parts of Haryana.  |
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Interstate
gang of thieves busted Chandigarh, April 8 The police of Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had been on the lookout for the members of the gang. On preliminary investigations by the police, the arrested gang members have confessed to their involvement in around 40 cases. The cases are in addition to the thefts reported in various cities of Punjab and Haryana. Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the crime branch arrested four members of the gang while they were planning a “big strike” near the junction of Sectors 22 and 23 last evening. Two country-made pistols and six live cartridges were also seized from them. A local court today remanded the arrested members — Jaipal Singh, Sunil, Sushil and Manmohan Singh — till April 15. Mr Baldev Singh, Superintendent of Police, and Inspector of Crime Branch, Mr Satbir Singh, said the modus operandi of the gang was to scatter in banks, post offices and other public places where money transaction took place. After identifying their target, the members used to follow it and seize an opportunity to steal the money and escape on their scooters. Two scooters (DL 45 M 9081 and PB 10 AA 8780), which were used for fleeing, have been impounded by the police. The members of the gang had been staying at Dharamshala of Snatam Dharam Mandir in Sector 22 since April 2. As the gang used to operate from Moradabad, it used to leave the scooters at parking lots in different parts of the city. The favourite places where the gang stayed during their stay in the city were Sood Bhavan, Kisan Bhavan and Sector 30 Dharamshala. On March 11, the gang members had stolen Rs 53,514 from Mr Mehar Singh, who had left the money in his car and gone to deposit his telephone bill in Sector 22 Post Office. The thieves had followed him from the Sector 35 branch of Canara Bank. The police has recovered Rs 10,000 out of the total sum. According to the police, the leader of the gang was 38-year-old Jaipal, who has three children. Jaipal disclosed that on an average the gang used to “earn” a minimum of around Rs 30,000 a month, depending upon the catch. The total amount stolen by the gang could run into lakhs of rupees. A number of cases had come to light when employees, taking the salary amount of their respective departments, had reported that the cash had been stolen from the glove boxes of their scooters. |
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Mandeep murder case: 3 held Chandigarh, April 8 According to the police, all suspects were arrested from the city. While Ajit Singh and Pushpinder Singh are residents of Desu Majra village near
Kharar, Guriqbal Singh lives in Phase1 of SAS Nagar. |
Local teachers remember Maoist rebel leader Chandigarh, April 8 Dr
Bhattarai, when he surfaced from hiding after seven years, was recently quoted in the media saying guns had served their purpose and dialogue meant a victory in the struggle as it had forced the government to listen to them. In Nepal when Bhattarai emerged from his exile, the police had to lathicharge onlookers He was also quoted in the Statesman as saying that the India — Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950 should be re-opened for negotiation. ‘‘We want a new treaty which is beneficial to both parties. Unless that happens we cannot have good
relations.’’ Bhattarai was hardly the type one would associate with leading insurgents, recollects his teacher Dr Rajnish
Wattas, now Principal of the college. He was probably influenced by Marxism during his studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was the last man anybody could suspect of even a minor mischief in class, added the principal. After doing his intermediate from Amrit Science College, an affiliate of Tribhuvan University, in 1972, he joined the Chandigarh College of Architecture here and graduated in first division. His batchmates remembered Bhattarai as a friendly, intelligent and dedicated team worker, who was well organised. Despite his short built he evinced interest in sports and other extracurricular activities in the college. Born on June 18, 1954, Bhattarai is just 5’4” and weighed only 43 kg when he joined the college here. He was a boarder and was allotted a room in Corbu House. After doing his B.Architecture from here, which he completed in first division in May, 1977, Bhattarai went to New Delhi and later did his doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University there. It was in New Delhi that he met his life partner who was also doing her doctorate. Dr Aditya
Prakash, who was principal of the college when Bhattarai studied here, said he was an average student and there was nothing extraordinary about him. The office records of the College of Architecture still had in file details marks card of the last two semesters of
Bhattarai. Interestingly, Bhattarai had done his thesis, as a part of his B.Arch degree, on the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi. |
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BJP lashes out at VP for Mandal panel
Chandigarh, April 8 Addressing party workers on the occasion of the 23rd formation day of the BJP here on Sunday, Mr Vardhan also said there had been scandals worth Rs 1,64, 848 crore as per a Central Vigilance Commission report released in 1993. He said 90 per cent of these scams were those during the Congress period starting from 1948 when a defence jeep scam of Rs 30 crore was detected. Mr Harshvardhan’s reference to ‘division’ in the society by Mr V.P. Singh has come after a decade when the BJP had taken a U-turn by confronting the ‘Mandal’ agenda with ‘Mandir’ and seemingly aims to recapture its upper caste constituency and attract youth. He reeled out data to prove that the 45 years of the Congress regime could not match development which had taken place during the past five years of the BJP rule in the fields of gas connections, telephone connections, roads, farm credit and job creation. He said the Vajpyaee government had been able to get the world to accept Indian point of view on the issue of Kashmir and did not buckle under international pressure when the country went nuclear. The BJP national executive member, Mr Satyapal Jain, focused on the stability factor of the Vajpayee government and bringing about unity amongst various regions by running a successful coalition government for five years. Indicating that the ‘Sthapana Divas’ was an exercise for the November 2003 Assembly elections and following Lok Sabha elections, Mr Jain urged workers to take a vow to get the party 300 seats. The local unit president Mr Yashpal Mahajan, said 90 per cent of the target for membership had been achieved. Senior party leaders Mr Jairam Joshi, Mr Purushottam
Mahajan, Mr Pavittar Singh Namdhari, Ms Kamla Sharma and Mr Ramvir Singh Bhatti among others were present.
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Exhibition
of CSIR opens Chandigarh, April 8 Termed as a branding exercise of the scientific and technological public sector giant whose transferred technologies have resulted in industrial production worth $ 1 billion, the exhibition showcases how technologies developed by the laboratories of the CSIR had provided a base for the industrialisation of the country and its solution to socio-economic problems. The five-day exhibition beginning today has seen all 38 major laboratories of the CSIR coming together to display their achievements. Around 60 major achievements of these laboratories are being shown at the exhibition telling the history of scientific feats of the country. This is eighth in the series of 60 of such exhibitions planned in the country as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations kicked off by the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from the Vigyan Bhavan in September, 2002. The Central Scientific Instruments Organisation Director, Dr R.P. Bajpai, who inaugurated the exhibition, said it would bring technology to the doorstep of an entrepreneur who could adopt them for mass application and help grow country’s economy as well as solve problems of society. Be it formulating a herbal cure for asthma — Asmon; injecting recombinant bacteria to cure cholera — streptokinase vaccine; taking the Indian civil aviation industry in that fast lane — Saras and Hansa; developing traditional knowledge library for global acceptance of the country’s traditional wisdom and playing a pivotal role in national security — light combat aircraft (LCA), the CSIR represents the collective confidence of the country in emerging an advanced nation by 2020. The CSIR has the distinction of introducing 12 entirely new drugs into the market while the entire sub-continent has been able to develop only 15 drugs in the last 50 years. The entrepreneurs of the area who were required to cater to the needs of the turbulent farm sector could benefit from the world’s best facilities with the CSIR in food processing and leather industry sectors. |
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New scheme to check fire incidents Chandigarh, April 8 The department would prepare a list of night watchmen in the city and ask them to report to it on the toll-free number 101 on an hourly basis, sources told Chandigarh Tribune here yesterday. With the most sensitive time for fire incidents, May and June, coming close, the department is trying to ensure an early detection of fire to protect lives and property and this measure could come very handy, they said. The department, during a survey, had found that the heaviest loss from a fire had been at places where the night watchman did not come to know of it immediately, apparently because he was sleeping. The department found that when a couple of days back, when a shop in Sector 30 had caught fire, the watchman had been sleeping. Earlier too, a similar pattern was noticed during major fire incidents near the CMC in Sector 17, the High Court building and the Sector 46 Rehri Market. The department had last year sent surprise checking teams to the High Court to keep watchmen on an alert there. The experiment met with success to an extent, but keeping a vigil on watchmen was also not possible at all places, the sources said adding that the measure, if approved, would ensure a wider coverage of the area. The department is also considering to organise special camps for watchmen to train them for immediately responding to a fire danger and avoid sleeping in the night. Besides this, a 10-day campaign to educate the people about the fire safety aspects would also be organised. As a part of the campaign, firemen will give demonstrations in schools and at major public places. The department is also trying to rope in NGOs to carry out awareness campaigns and become a part of the vigilance team for fire safety in the areas whose designs have gone awry as per the fire safety requirements. |
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Save Sukhna City Beautiful's most prominent water feature, Sukhna Lake, is in danger. Relentless silting over the years has drastically reduced its capacity. Unless the trend is reversed, it is only a matter of time before the lake dries up. The UT Administration has tried one method after another to save it: afforestation and check-dams in the catchment areas of the lake, mechanical desilting operations as also through kar seva. After toying with the idea of wet-dredging, the Administration has now finally settled for raising the sill or crest level of the radial gates of the Regulator in a bid to increase its depth. But there is a difference of opinion among experts as well as people as to whether this is the best method to save it. Readers of Chandigarh Tribune are invited to send in their views not exceeding 150 words on the subject along with a passport size colour photo for publication in the newspaper to: Save Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh Tribune, Sector 29-C, Chandigarh. DEBATE Innovative methods needed to save Sukhna That every conscious citizen of Chandigarh would want to see the Sukhna Lake rippling and sparkling with aquatic vitality, as a permanent feature is but natural. It is equally natural that should the very existence of the lake be threatened by silt, it should raise voices of concern, some bizarre and ritualistic like kar-seva, others technology-inspired and seemingly without any side-effects to existing ecology such as thorough wet-dredging and yet others, bureaucratically sponsored like raising the water-level of the lake by a couple of feet. When emotions run high, perhaps it is difficult to pick the best option. |
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36 JCT men charged with
trespassing SAS Nagar, April 8 It is reported that last evening certain members of the JCT management, along with the police force and some private security people, forcibly got a number of houses vacated in the JCT housing colony, which had been occupied by certain JCT employees. These vacant houses had been occupied by them on Friday. In is alleged that the 36 occupants of these houses were called to the police post in Phase XI yesterday for holding talks with the representatives of the management who told them to vacate the houses. When these persons did not agree they were taken to the Phase VIII police station and made to sit there. It is further alleged that in the meantime the representatives of the management went to the colony and forcibly got the houses vacated by throwing out the household items of the employees in the presence of the police. The management officials then locked the vacated houses. The police, however, has denied the allegation of the employees that they were forcibly made to sit in the police station. Police officials even say that they were not present at the time when the goods of the employees were thrown out. The police said a complaint had been received from the JCT management that certain persons were allegedly trying to occupy the houses in the colony. On the basis of the complaint some police personnel were sent to the colony and the attempt to occupy these houses was foiled. A case was registered against them in this regard. |
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Boy crushed under canter Chandigarh, April 8 BURN CASE: A 17-year-old girl of Bapu Dham colony received 60 per cent burn injuries when a cooking stove burst accidentally. The girl was referred to the PGI from the Sector 16 General Hospital. ELECTROCUTED:
A 30-year-old welder was electrocuted while executing a welding job at a construction site in Sector 51, here today. According to the information, the victim, Jamna (30), had been engaged by a contractor, Jarnail Singh. The police has registered a case of negligence against the contractor, who was arrested and bailed out. SNATCHING:
Ms Mini Preet, a resident of Sector 44-A, reported that a scooter-borne youth snatched her purse containing a mobile phone, a pair of sun glasses, Rs 1,000 and some important documents in Sector 34. The police has registered a case and is investigating the matter. |
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